Luna woke to the sound of someone moving through Victor's apartment with the kind of stealth that suggested they very much didn't want to be detected. Her hand immediately went to the silver mark below her ear—still there, still tingling with an energy she didn't understand.
She slipped out of bed and crept toward the bedroom door, straining to hear what was happening in the living room. Victor's voice was low but clearly agitated.
"You can't be here, Kane. The building is warded specifically against werewolves."
"Yet here I am." The responding voice was deeper, rougher, with an edge that made Luna's pulse quicken for reasons she couldn't explain. "Funny how those wards don't seem to work when you're harboring someone with Silvermoon blood."
Luna's breath caught. Someone else knew who she was.
"She's under my protection," Victor said coldly. "I suggest you leave before—"
"Before what? Before you complete whatever blood ritual you've already started?" The stranger's voice turned to a growl. "I can smell your mark on her from here, leech. What did you do?"
"I did what was necessary to keep her alive."
Luna had heard enough. She pushed open the bedroom door and stepped into the living room, immediately drawing the attention of both men.
The newcomer was... magnificent.
Where Victor was pale elegance and dark sophistication, this man was golden power and raw magnetism. Tall and broad-shouldered, with hair the color of wheat and eyes like summer sky, he looked like he'd stepped out of some Norse mythology textbook. But it was the way he moved that caught Luna's attention—with the fluid grace of a natural predator, every muscle coiled and ready for action.
When their eyes met, Luna felt something slam into her chest with the force of a physical blow. Recognition. Not memory, exactly, but something deeper than memory. Something that lived in her bones and her blood and the newly awakened wolf spirit that was suddenly pacing restlessly inside her consciousness.
"Luna." The man's voice softened, and his entire demeanor changed from threatening to gentle in the space of a heartbeat. "God, look at you. You're so beautiful."
"I'm sorry," Luna said carefully, "but do we know each other?"
Pain flickered across the stranger's features before he could hide it. "You don't remember me."
"Should I?"
"Kane Silvermoon," Victor said dryly. "Your cousin, and current Alpha of what remains of the Silver Moon Pack."
"Cousin?" Luna looked between the two men, noting the way they stood like they were prepared for violence at any moment. "You're family?"
"More than family," Kane said, his gaze never leaving her face. "Luna, we were... we were promised to each other. Betrothed since childhood."
Luna felt the world tilt sideways again. "Betrothed? To you?"
"Your father and my father arranged it when we were very young," Kane explained, taking a careful step closer. "A match between the Alpha's daughter and his nephew, designed to keep the royal bloodline strong and united."
"I see." Luna's voice was carefully neutral, but inside she was reeling. First Victor's marriage contract, now a childhood betrothal to a man she couldn't remember. "And you've just... been waiting for me to return?"
"Every day for twenty years," Kane said simply.
The raw honesty in his voice made Luna's chest tighten. There was no calculation in his expression, no political maneuvering like she'd seen with Victor. Just love, pure and uncomplicated and devastating in its intensity.
"Kane," she said gently, "I don't remember you. I don't remember any of this. My childhood, my parents, the pack—it's all gone."
"But you're awake now," Kane said urgently. "Your wolf is awake. The memories will come back, Luna. They have to."
"Even if they do," Luna said, "I'm not the same person I was as a child. I've lived an entire life as a human. I have a career, responsibilities—"
"You have responsibilities to your pack," Kane interrupted, his voice taking on the commanding tone of an Alpha. "To your people. We've been waiting for you, Luna. We've been dying without you."
"Dying?" Luna glanced at Victor, who was watching the exchange with an unreadable expression. "What does that mean?"
Kane ran a hand through his golden hair, suddenly looking exhausted. "The pack fractured after your parents' death. Without a royal heir to unite us, we split into smaller groups. Some followed me, others chose different leaders. We've been fighting amongst ourselves for two decades while our enemies grow stronger."
"The hunters," Luna said, understanding.
"Among others." Kane's jaw tightened. "We need you, Luna. We need our true Alpha."
"I'm not an Alpha," Luna protested. "I don't know the first thing about leading a pack of werewolves."
"You're Alexander Silvermoon's daughter," Kane said fiercely. "It's in your blood, your bones, your soul. You were born to lead us."
Victor cleared his throat. "If I may interrupt this touching family reunion, there's the small matter of Luna's safety to consider. The hunters are still out there, and they'll be looking for her."
Kane's expression hardened as he turned to Victor. "Which is why she needs to come home with me. To the pack lands, where she'll be protected by her own people."
"Her own people who couldn't protect her parents?" Victor's voice was silk over steel. "Forgive me if I'm not entirely confident in your security arrangements."
"That was different," Kane snarled. "We were betrayed from within. It won't happen again."
"Betrayed?" Luna stepped between the two men before their posturing could escalate into actual violence. "What do you mean betrayed?"
Kane's expression grew grim. "Someone in the pack fed information to your parents' killers. Someone they trusted. We never found out who."
"So there might still be a traitor in your ranks," Victor pointed out. "How wonderfully reassuring."
"The pack has been purged and reorganized," Kane said coldly. "We know who's loyal now."
"Do you?" Victor smiled, but there was nothing pleasant about it. "How can you be certain? Twenty years is a long time for allegiances to shift, for new betrayals to take root."
Luna watched the two men face off and felt a headache building behind her temples. "Stop," she said firmly. "Both of you. I'm not a prize to be won or a political asset to be claimed. I'm a person, and I'll make my own decisions about where I go and who I trust."
Both men looked somewhat chastened, but neither backed down.
"Luna," Kane said more gently, "I know this is overwhelming. But you need to see the pack lands, meet your people. You need to understand what you are, what you're capable of."
Luna looked at Victor, who shrugged elegantly. "The choice is yours, of course. Though I should mention that my mark will allow me to find you wherever you go. For your protection, naturally."
The reminder of the silver symbol below her ear made Luna's temper flare. "Right. Your mark. Which you placed on me without my knowledge or consent."
Victor had the grace to look slightly uncomfortable. "It was necessary—"
"It was a violation," Luna cut him off. "And we'll be discussing that later." She turned to Kane. "How far are the pack lands?"
"About two hours north of the city. Deep forest, well hidden, completely secure."
Luna weighed her options. She could stay here with Victor, safe but essentially a prisoner in a gilded cage, bound by a mark she didn't understand to a man she barely knew. Or she could go with Kane to meet the people who claimed her as their lost princess, and try to understand what she really was.
"I want to see the pack lands," she decided. "But I'm not making any commitments beyond that. Not to you, not to Victor, not to anyone."
Kane's face lit up with relief and joy. "Of course. Whatever you need, whatever time you need."
Victor was less pleased. "Luna, I strongly advise against this. The pack lands may be hidden, but they're not impregnable. If the hunters have been tracking you—"
"Then they'll find me anywhere I go," Luna finished. "At least this way, I'll have some answers about who I really am."
"Very well." Victor's tone was carefully neutral, but Luna caught the flash of something that might have been hurt in his red eyes. "I trust you'll be careful."
"I will." Luna hesitated, then added, "The marriage contract... I haven't decided anything yet."
"I understand."
An hour later, Luna found herself in Kane's black pickup truck, winding through increasingly dense forest on roads that seemed to exist more as suggestions than actual routes. She'd changed into jeans and a sweater from clothes Kane had somehow procured in her exact size, and left her business suit behind like the remnant of a previous life.
"How did you know my size?" she asked as they bounced over another pothole that would have destroyed a normal vehicle's suspension.
Kane glanced at her, a slight smile playing at his lips. "I've been watching over you for twenty years, Luna. I know everything about you."
Something about the way he said it should have been creepy, but instead it was oddly comforting. "Everything?"
"Your favorite coffee shop. The fact that you work too many hours and forget to eat lunch. The way you hum when you're concentrating on a difficult case." Kane's voice was soft, almost reverent. "I know you bite your lower lip when you're nervous, and that you always wear silver jewelry even though most people in your profession prefer gold."
Luna touched the silver pendant at her throat—a crescent moon she'd owned for as long as she could remember. "I never thought about why I preferred silver."
"It's in your nature. Silver is sacred to our kind—it amplifies our connection to the moon, to our wolves." Kane navigated another sharp turn. "There's so much I want to show you, Luna. So much you need to learn about what you are."
"What if I don't want to learn?" Luna asked quietly. "What if I decide I prefer my human life?"
Kane was quiet for a long moment. "Then I'll accept that," he said finally. "But I don't think you will. I think once you meet the pack, once you feel the connection to your people, you'll understand that this is where you belong."
"You sound very confident."
"I have to be. Hope is all that's kept me going for the past twenty years."
Luna studied his profile—the strong jaw, the determined set of his shoulders, the hands that gripped the steering wheel with barely contained strength. "Kane... when you say we were betrothed, what exactly does that mean? In werewolf terms?"
"It means our fathers intended for us to be mates. To bond for life, to lead the pack together, to—" Kane cleared his throat. "To have children who would carry on the royal bloodline."
"Mates," Luna repeated. "That sounds more permanent than marriage."
"It is. Werewolf bonds are... different from human relationships. When two wolves truly mate, their souls become linked. They can sense each other's emotions, share strength, communicate without words." Kane glanced at her. "It's the most intimate connection two beings can share."
Luna felt heat rise in her cheeks. "And you expected that we would just... automatically bond when I returned?"
"No," Kane said quietly. "Mating bonds can't be forced, Luna. They happen when they happen, if they happen. The betrothal was just our fathers' way of ensuring we had the opportunity to see if we were compatible."
"And if we're not?"
Kane's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Then I'll spend the rest of my life knowing I lost the only woman I've ever loved."
The raw pain in his voice made Luna's chest ache. "Kane..."
"We're here," he said, saving her from having to respond.
Luna looked through the windshield and gasped. They'd emerged into a clearing that seemed to exist in its own pocket of reality. Rustic cabins and more modern buildings were scattered throughout the space, connected by well-maintained paths and surrounded by gardens that looked like something out of a fairy tale. People moved between the buildings—some in human form, others as massive wolves that should have been terrifying but somehow weren't.
But what really took her breath away was the way they all stopped and stared as Kane's truck entered the clearing. Even the wolves lifted their heads, nostrils flaring as if catching a scent they'd been waiting decades to smell again.
"They know," Kane said softly. "They can sense who you are."
A crowd began to gather as Kane parked near the largest building—a rustic lodge that radiated warmth and welcome. Luna saw faces of all ages, from small children to elderly pack members, all watching her with expressions that ranged from wonder to joy to something that looked disturbingly like worship.
"This is overwhelming," Luna murmured.
"It's about to get more so," Kane warned. "Some of them have been waiting their entire lives to meet you."
He came around to open her door, offering his hand to help her down. The moment Luna's feet touched the ground, she felt something shift inside her chest. Her wolf spirit stirred, stretching as if waking from a long sleep, and suddenly she could smell things she'd never noticed before—the rich scent of earth and growing things, the complex layering of individual pack members' unique signatures, the wild freedom of the forest beyond.
"Welcome home, Princess," said a warm female voice.
Luna turned to see a woman in her fifties approaching, silver threading through her dark hair and laugh lines around her eyes. She moved with the confidence of someone accustomed to authority, but her expression was purely maternal.
"This is Sarah Moonfeather, my Beta and the pack's head healer," Kane said. "Sarah, meet Luna Silvermoon."
"Look at you," Sarah breathed, reaching out to cup Luna's face in her hands. "You have your father's eyes and your mother's strength. We've missed you so much, little one."
"I..." Luna's voice caught unexpectedly. Something about Sarah's touch, her gentle familiarity, awakened an ache Luna hadn't even known she carried. "I don't remember you."
"But I remember you," Sarah said softly. "I helped deliver you, watched you take your first steps, heard your first word." Her eyes filled with tears. "You called me 'Aunt Sarah' until the night you disappeared."
Luna felt her own eyes burning. "I'm sorry. I wish I could remember."
"Memories aren't everything, sweetheart. What matters is that you're here now."
More pack members approached, introducing themselves and sharing fragments of memories about Luna's early childhood. The blacksmith who'd made her first silver bracelet. The teacher who'd taught her letters. The elderly woman who'd sung her to sleep when her parents were away on pack business.
Each interaction chipped away at the wall Luna had built around her heart, but it was the children who finally broke through completely. A little girl of maybe six years old broke away from the crowd and ran straight to Luna, throwing her arms around Luna's legs in an exuberant hug.
"Princess Luna!" the child exclaimed. "You came back! Just like in the stories!"
"Stories?" Luna knelt down to the little girl's level.
"About the lost princess who would return when the pack needed her most," the girl said solemnly. "Mama says you're going to save us all."
Luna looked up at Kane, who was watching the interaction with an expression of such tender hope it made her heart ache. "Is that what they expect?" she asked quietly. "For me to save them?"
"They expect you to be yourself," Kane replied. "Everything else will follow."
But as Luna looked around at the faces surrounding her—hopeful, desperate, clinging to dreams they'd carried for twenty years—she wasn't so sure. These people had built their entire identity around waiting for her return. What happened if she couldn't live up to their expectations?
What happened if the lost princess they'd dreamed of wasn't who she really was?
"Luna?" Sarah touched her shoulder gently. "There's someone else who wants to meet you. Someone who's been waiting longer than anyone."
She led Luna toward the lodge, the crowd parting respectfully. Inside, the building was warm and welcoming, with a massive fireplace and comfortable furniture that invited people to stay and talk. But Luna's attention was immediately drawn to the elderly man sitting in a chair near the fire.
He was ancient, his hair white as snow and his face mapped with the lines of many decades. But his eyes were sharp and knowing, and when he smiled at Luna, she felt recognition flicker deep in her consciousness.
"Grandfather?" The word slipped out before Luna could stop it.
"Hello, little moon," the old man said in a voice like rustling leaves. "I'm so glad you've finally come home."
And for the first time since her awakening began, Luna felt like she truly was home.
But as she moved toward her grandfather, she caught sight of several pack members standing apart from the welcoming crowd. Their expressions weren't joyful or hopeful—they were suspicious, resentful, almost hostile.
One of them, a hard-faced man with scars across his left cheek, stepped forward.
"With respect, Kane," he said, his voice carrying clearly across the lodge, "are we certain this is really Alexander's daughter? After all these years, how can we be sure she isn't some elaborate trick by our enemies?"
The warm atmosphere in the room instantly chilled. Luna felt the pack's attention shift, some continuing to look at her with welcome, others now viewing her with new suspicion.
"Thomas," Kane's voice held a warning. "You're out of line."
"Am I?" Thomas's gaze fixed on Luna with cold calculation. "She shows up at the exact moment when the hunters are most active, marked by a vampire, claiming to have no memory of her past. Convenient, don't you think?"
"Enough," Kane snarled, his Alpha authority radiating through the room.
But Thomas wasn't backing down. "I say we demand proof. Real proof that she is who she claims to be."
"What kind of proof?" Luna asked quietly, her legal training helping her stay calm despite the growing tension.
Thomas smiled, and it wasn't pleasant. "Proof that you can do what every true Silvermoon heir has been able to do since the pack's founding." His eyes glittered with challenge. "Prove you can call the moon's blessing, Princess. Show us the silver light that marks the royal bloodline."
Luna felt the blood drain from her face. She had no idea what he was talking about, no idea how to call any kind of blessing or create silver light. She was about to be exposed as a fraud in front of the people who'd been waiting decades for her return.
Unless...
Victor's mark tingled against her skin, and Luna realized that her connection to the vampire might be more than just a tracking device. There was power there, power she didn't understand but could feel humming just beneath the surface.
The question was: did she dare try to use it?
End of Chapter 4